Hydrogen generation and availability are perennial issues for oil refiners. Steam methane reforming (SMR) is the option of choice for many, but only at the expense of significant CO2 emissions, which may be limited by future regulations and carbon taxes. Biomass-derived hydrogen can help alleviate and/or compliment the hydrogen supply of refinery operation, while simultaneously reducing the carbon footprint and, thus, lowering cost associated with pollution and greenhouse gas emission.
CN1435369 describes a method for preparing hydrogen gas by catalytic cracking of a biomass, comprising introducing heated air to fluidized-bed reactor, burning biomass in the presence of steam, fluidizing the biomass, gasifying, and cracking to generate a hydrogen-enriched gas.
CN1214972 describes gasification of a solid biomass in a down draft gasification reactor. The resulting gas undergoes a steam methane reforming and a tar fission reaction, producing a hydrogen-rich gas.
US2008244976 describes a method and system for gasifying biomass in an indirectly heated gasifier, and provides a method to eliminate condensable organic material from the resulting product gas. The method comprises a tar removal step that uses a circulating catalyst to crack organics and produce additional gas. The catalyst is heated in the gasification reactor and transferred to a conditioning chamber, where it catalyzes the cracking step.
US2007100003 describes a hybrid system for biomass gasification, wherein the biomass is pyrolyzed and the resulting solids and vapors are processed through supercritical steam gasification. Product gases are purified in an amine wash scrubber, an adiabatic pre-reformer breaks down remaining aromatic compounds, and are steam-reformed.
What is lacking is a simple and more efficient method to produce hydrogen without significant increase in CO2 levels. We describe a method to adsorb biomass onto a catalyst, followed by gasification to produce H2 and regenerate the catalyst.